Re*flex"ive (-?v), a. 1. [Cf. F. réflexif.] Bending or turned backward; reflective; having respect to something past.

Assurance reflexive can not be a divine faith.

2. Implying censure. [Obs.] "What man does not resent an ugly reflexive word?" South.

3. (Gram.) Having for its direct object a pronoun which refers to the agent or subject as its antecedent; -- said of certain verbs; as, the witness perjured himself; I bethought myself. Applied also to pronouns of this class; reciprocal; reflective.

-- Re*flex"ive*ly, adv. -- Re*flex"ive*ness, n.

• (grammar) Having a subject and object that are the same.
  
• (settheory) Of a relation R on a set S, such that xRx for all members x of S (that is, the relation holds between any element of the set and itself).
       "Equals" is a reflexive relation.